Professing innocence, Hardy seeks reprieve

OLYMPICS

Paul Newberry, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, July 26, 2008

(FILEs) US swimmer Jessica Hardy listens to the national anthem as she wins the Final of the Womens 100m Breastroke during the fourth day of the ninth FINA World Short-Course Swimming Championships at the MEN Arena in Manchester, in north-west England, on April 12, 2008. Jessica Hardy, who qualified to swim the 50-meter freestyle and 100 breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics, tested positive for a banned substance, Swimming World magazine reported on July 24, 2008. AFP PHOTO/LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images) less

(FILEs) US swimmer Jessica Hardy listens to the national anthem as she wins the Final of the Womens 100m Breastroke during the fourth day of the ninth FINA World Short-Course Swimming Championships at the MEN ... more

Photo: LEON NEAL, AFP/Getty Images

Photo: LEON NEAL, AFP/Getty Images

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(FILEs) US swimmer Jessica Hardy listens to the national anthem as she wins the Final of the Womens 100m Breastroke during the fourth day of the ninth FINA World Short-Course Swimming Championships at the MEN Arena in Manchester, in north-west England, on April 12, 2008. Jessica Hardy, who qualified to swim the 50-meter freestyle and 100 breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics, tested positive for a banned substance, Swimming World magazine reported on July 24, 2008. AFP PHOTO/LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images) less

(FILEs) US swimmer Jessica Hardy listens to the national anthem as she wins the Final of the Womens 100m Breastroke during the fourth day of the ninth FINA World Short-Course Swimming Championships at the MEN ... more

Photo: LEON NEAL, AFP/Getty Images

Professing innocence, Hardy seeks reprieve

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In the final days of training camp with her U.S. Olympic teammates, Jessica Hardy was trying to nap between practices when she got the most dreaded of phone calls for any athlete:

The former Cal swimmer, a four-time NCAA champion, had tested positive for the illicit drug Clenbuterol during the U.S. Olympic trials.

"My main emotion at that point was confusion," Hardy said Friday in an interview with the Associated Press. "I had never even heard of this drug."

The 21-year-old professed her innocence in the interview and said she has no idea how the drug got in her system.

"I'm innocent," said Hardy, who spoke by telephone accompanied by her attorney, Howard Jacobs. "That's all I can say to everybody. Whether or not people chose to believe me, I'm innocent. ...

"It's pretty much the hardest thing in my life that I've ever had to go through," she said. "I've cried every single day since I found out. I even vomited from anxiety. This is absolutely the worst time of my life."

Hardy was tested three times during the trials in Omaha, Neb., Jacobs said, with negative results after her races July 1 and 6, but positive - for what her attorney called small amounts of the drug - on July 4.

Clenbuterol is usually prescribed to those with breathing disorders, but it's also a stimulant that increases aerobic capacity and the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream.

Unless the positive test is overturned through an expedited arbitration process, Hardy will miss what was supposed to be her first Olympics and face a mandatory two-year doping ban. She qualified to swim in two individual events, and was a likely entrant on two relay teams.

The positive test between two negative tests certainly will be a major point in Hardy's appeal.

"I would definitely say it's unusual," Jacobs said. "As far as how it will play into the arbitration case, I don't know. But it's out of the norm."

Jacobs conceded it will be difficult to get the ruling overturned with the opening ceremonies just two weeks away. The preliminaries of the 100 breast - Hardy's best event - are scheduled for the evening of Aug. 10. The opening round of the 50 free is Aug. 15.

For now, Hardy continues to train on her own in Southern California, while the rest of the U.S. team left Friday for Singapore, where they will work out before heading to Beijing.

"My training and my practices are really the only thing I have control over right now," she said. "Honestly, I'm working as hard as possible. That's really the only thing I can do for myself."

Although swimming has largely avoided major drug scandals, Hardy knows rebuilding her reputation will be difficult.

"That's one of my worries, but it's not my main concern. First, I have to be able to compete," she said. "I'm just taking it one day at a time, one hour at a time. I have the same goals, the same dreams I've had my whole career. Those dreams are definitely still there. But I'm just living moment to moment."

Her name probably will be tarnished forever no matter how her case turns out, especially in light of recent high-profile doping cases in which athletes professed their innocence, then turned out tainted.

"I just want to say that I'm innocent. I've been innocent my entire career," she said. "I've never wanted to do anything remotely close to doping. It's never, ever crossed my mind. I've never been approached about doing it. It's never been an issue my entire career.